Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

In November 2006, the Minister, as the then Minister for Transport, made a very fine speech in which he announced the setting up of the Dublin transportation authority. He stated he was consulting a couple of people and bodies and that the Bill would be ready before Christmas 2006, but Christmas 2007 has come and gone. What has happened to the Dublin transportation authority Bill? Is the Minister aware that because of the works on the M50, all the roundabouts into Dublin from areas such as Lucan, Blanchardstown, Finglas and Ballymun are increasingly gridlocked? This means the buses from all these huge areas, where CIE caters for tens of thousands of commuters every day, are completely gridlocked. Has the Minister any influence on when the Dublin transportation authority Bill will be published?

There is commuter misery. As the Minister knows, the M50 is a disaster — it is a paying car park that one parks on for a couple of hours a day.

See this speech in context